Digital Fate
by Rainbowkittyblossomwings
Summary: A retelling of both cyber sleuth games in written form. Follow Ami as she tries to deal with her real body slowly dying as she tries to find a cure for the terrible disease known as Eden syndrome, and she gets wrapped up in the world of digimon. Watch Keisuke try to uncover the mystery of who hacked him. Will the two forces meet and work together to save the world?
1. Prologue Ami

**Hey, so the story behind me writing this is that I love digimon. I've always loved digimon, however I never wrote a fanfiction for it. Perhaps it's because it was my childhood obsession. Well anyway I got digimon cyber sleuth and it was wonderful, it's like one of my new favorite games.**

 **I decided to see if I could update it and write it up in a novelized form, I of course am going to change events, do things like add personality and character arcs to the digimon (one of my main complaints of the game the digimon game should have had personality for the player's digimon) I'm going to do a bit of a character study on what the characters are feeling, and I'm going to have concrete relationships between the characters (I'm also going to change events and stuff like that)**

 **I'm also going to merge both games, cyber sleuth and hacker's memory to better understand them going about on the same timeline. Keisuke and Ami will meet eventually and talk.**

 **I hope you enjoy the fic, regardless of if you've played cyber sleuth or not.**

* * *

Ami lived in an extremely technological world, and for that she was always thankful. Eden was the thing that helped society run, companies had private servers they logged into, friends met with each other despite not living close together being able to log into a world full of adventure with just a virtual headset.

You could go on adventures in a bright white world, with colorful robots and characters. You could modify things to be just to your liking. Anything could be achieved in Eden, it was a virtual world, and something that was just as necessary as cell phones and the internet. It was something that a lot of people didn't even remember how they lived without.

All you needed was a headset to log in. Most people logged in at home, which caused a lot of telecommuting in today's society but some people used their office space to log in to something work related, or they went to internet cafes.

Ami loved it all, eden was a beloved feature of today's society. So of course she embraced the way society had adapted to need Eden.

The only problem was that she herself didn't really use Eden. It was rare, she wondered if she was perhaps the only person in the world who had never logged in to Eden but she had a variety of reasons why she never logged in.

"It's too much work just to adventure in a virtual world." She would tell herself.

"I don't want to set up my avatar." She would repeat again.

"If I'm going to be online I don't want to actually talk to people. Online interactions usually relied on texting not speaking." She would tell herself again.

Even though you used a virtual body that looked like your's and it was supposed to be like walking around the real world, it still felt slightly artificial. You used an avatar of yourself but you talked to other people despite that.

Instead of using Eden to communicate with friends Ami instead preferred the Kamishiro company's easier to use systems, designed for casual use. Like chatrooms. Ami loved using her social time to browse chatrooms. All you had to do in chatrooms was type your response to people and have your cute little icon speak it out in a text box.

Ami had been using the Eden chatrooms for years now, texting with her cellphone to talk to her friends that she didn't ever meet up with in real life. Despite only really referring to them as their account names, Ami still found that they were important to her.

She logged into the chatroom as usual, she wasn't Ami anymore. She was AIOBA, who had one x for an eye and looked like a rainy day charm. She thought it was cute.

AIOBA was a lurker, a listener, not really a talker. Still she had a few good friends. There was Akkino, who resembled some sort of jellyfish and Blue Box, who looked a little more human like but always appeared to be wearing a dunce cap.

 **Akkino:** Morning AIOBA! How ya doing?

 **Blue Box:** Why do you never ask how I'm doing?

 **Akkino:** Because AIOBA's cuter than you. Always so shy! As AIOBA'S Self-proclaimed best friend I gotta check up on them!

Ami tried to ignore it as Blue Box and Akkino started to argue. They always argued, but in a sort of joking friendly way. She sometimes seriously wondered what they got up to in real life. Did they hang out and meet each other ever? Did they log into eden together and go on adventures?

She didn't know but despite their arguments they always seemed to be good friends. But she would like to consider herself good friends with them too despite how she sometimes just read chat logs instead of talked.

Other people were in the chatroom today too. It wasn't a private chat for just them. It's just that the avatars barely talked, there was this weird duck thing, an old man icon something like that. Ami never really made an effort to meet them though.

 **Akkino:** Oh well, shut up for a minute. I have something important to ask!

Ami realized that Akkino had stopped her yelling again to be the center of attention. She always had so much energy. She was constantly talking even if nobody else was.

 **Akkino:** Has anyone ever heard of digimon? I was reading some online articles about them the other day and they sound so cool! But scary! But they are definitely 100% real.

Ami laughed to herself. Akkino was always finding things online and gossiping about them, despite the fact that most of the time they were always just rumors and were later proven false. She never brought up the fact that she was wrong though.

 **Blue Box:** Why are you bringing them up all of a sudden?

Ami noted that Blue Box sounded bored. She sometimes liked to over analyze the text that her friends said. _They don't sound like they haven't heard about digimon though._ Ami realized. Was there some truth this time in what Akkino was talking about?

 **Akkino:** I heard digimon are these nasty programs that hackers use to create viruses, break into firewalls and steal information for them. They're basically super dangerous! But there are some rumors that people program them to look cute, so that's cool I guess!

 **Old Man Fanta:** Akkino those are a real thing they're dangerous…

Someone had been listening in that wasn't part of the everyday crowd finally spoke up. Ami didn't pay much attention to them. They'd be gone in a minute.

 **Akkino:** I wasn't finished talking! I'm still talking! They're a super scary program despite their looks. I mean I'd hate it if my data got stolen. I mean my eden avatar looks exactly like I do online! All my memories, information...That's all in my eden account! How I talk and everything! If I got hacked…

 **Old Man Fanta:** Hey slow down there Akkino, account thievery is a serious crime. Like it gets put on the news and everything. It's scary to think about but something that horrible would never happen to people like us.

 **Akkino:** But it could! Those evil hackers could use those nasty digimon to steal my information!

 **Blue Box:** I mean I don't think they'd steal YOUR information. I mean who cares about your stuff?

Ami noted that Blue Box was teasing Akkino again. It was kinda mean to dismiss her fears though.

 **Akkino:** Hey! That's mean! And they could, I mean there's tons of hacker groups out there. They're like...super popular and big. They're scary. And Eden security can't seem to get rid of them. I mean there's Zaxable…?

 **AIOBA:** Zaxon

Ami corrected Akkino about the name of the biggest hacker group. They didn't seem particularly scary though. Ami didn't know much about them but the only time they were in the news about illegal activity was when people were blaming them or hypothesizing that they had something to do with it. None of that had been confirmed

 **Blue Box:** And there was Jude too.

Ami had never heard about a hacker group named Jude.

 **Alger:** Jude's obsolete, stupid.

Some duck troll spoke up. Probably nobody important. Ami doubted she'd ever see them again.

 **Blue Box:** …. I think you might have some of your information wrong though, Akkino. I don't think anyone would use digimon to target you. I mean I think they're basically just like little monster pets. I mean some hackers use them as a program but the site you got your information off of is clearly wrong.

 **Akkino:**...Oh.

Akkino sounded disappointed about being wrong again.

 **Dark Night Satan:** Yeah and I mean I don't even think these things really exist in the same way they've been talked about? I mean they move around on their own. This means that they're kinda like an avatar. Maybe some person just designed their avatar to look like a monster. ...What a furry.

Some person piped in with a logical response. Ami waited for Akkino to yell at them for going against her uncited information.

 **Akkino:** Wait a minute…These things roam around on their own?

Akkino didn't seem to have known that. She seemed to be more surprised and happy to learn than anything else.

 _She's always so energetic._ Ami smiled. Her friends had quite the personality despite their faces being basically a jellyfish and some blue headed kid with a dunce hat.

That was the great thing about chatroom, despite never seeing each other you could still develop real relationships.

 **Mr. Navit has logged in.**

A message popped up on the screen for Ami. She felt her mind spin in confusion.

"Mr. Navit?" She said allowed in confusion.

Mr. Navit was the colorful mascot character that maintained the eden servers. Little robots in his design were spread around the world of eden, but he rarely showed his face in the chatrooms. Usually when he logged in it meant that Kamishiro enterprises wanted to send a message to their users or that there was an error on the server.

Ami watched the little robot avatar pop into the chatroom. She searched for if the log in name had an extra space or was spelled in a weird way which was usually a clue as to someone impersonating the important figure or a spam bot.

 **Mr. Navit:** =) Hello! I hope you're having a good day.

Ami was confused by the smiley face. _Maybe this is a bot, or someone impersonating Mr. Navit. They text like a young person not an auto-generated message by a company._

 **Blue Box:** Crap, I thought I banned bots. I don't need any eden mascot coming here. I hope this isn't another product placement.

 **Akkino:** I bet he's a hacker! We were just talking about hackers! I must have summoned him with my words!

Ami rolled her eyes. Akkino seemed to always have to bring things back to her.

 **Mr. Navit:** That is correct! I am a hacker! I hacked this eden mascot just to see you all!

Ami's eyes widened. _Wait...Akkino was right?_ She saw a flurry of exclamation marks be sent to her on the screen.

 **Mr. Navit:** I have a present for everybody here. It's a wonderful present. So be sure to log into Eden tomorrow! If you don't, I'll be very mad...And then I'll hack you! 

Mr. Navit's threat was in bright red letters, right on Ami's computer. His digital face turned to an angry one. And as quickly as he arrived, he just disappeared.

Nothing left was in the space that he used to be.

 **Alger:** This must be a prank, this sounds so scary. I'm logging off…

The duck avatar, along with several other people immediately disappeared and logged off. Soon enough it was just Ami, Akkino and Blue Box.

 **Akkino:** Despite hackers being scary, this sounds kinda fun! I mean we've gotta check it out now. I mean I'm just too curious! And who knows? Maybe I could take down the hacker and be on the news!

 **Blue Box:** So you're going? You're going to log on to Eden tomorrow and see what that hacker wants?

 **Akkino:** Yeah, I mean I'm not a coward after all. AIOBA will you join me? It would be fun to meet up online after all! Be the bff's we were always meant to be!

Ami sighed. _So this is why she wanted to go._ Akkino had been trying to meet up with her in eden for a while. And she liked Akkino, sure, but she didn't know if she wanted to make that leap from text buddies to online avatar buddies.

Sure Akkino and Blue Box were her best friends. She had been communicating with them for years now, but she would have preferred their first meeting to be a little less stressful than trying to locate a hacker.

 **Blue Box:** I'll go if you're going. I mean I wouldn't want you to be left alone. This situation does sound dangerous after all.

 _So Blue Box is going too? I guess he really does care about Akkino's safety. I always knew they were friends deep down._

 **Akkino:** Aww, are you hitting on me? I knew my cute charm came across in just text too! I mean seeing my gorgeous body helps too but-

 **Blue Box:** Ew yuck. Not in your wildest dreams.

 **Akkino:** Well you don't have to be rude about it. I didn't like you that much either. Don't worry.

Akkino did sound a little offended that she wasn't being hit on.

 **AIOBA:** I'll go. I'll meet up with you.

 **Akkino:** Yay! Me and AIOBA are going to be the cutest duo ever. And I guess you'll third wheel, Blue Box. Sucks to be you.

Ami finally spoke up, with her decision. She was putting off meeting her best friends for far too long. There was no reason to be afraid. _And Akkino's energy might put her in danger, it's just like Blue Box said._

This didn't have to be a dramatic situation, this could just be uncovering a mystery. It could be turned into a fun and easy first meet up.

There was no reason for Ami to be nervous. And that's what she kept telling herself.

But if that was the case why was her heart beating faster? Why did she feel a degree of fear?

 _I never have this problem in school with friends, or talking to people in real life. Why does talking to people in Eden always worry me?_

She didn't know. All she knew was that when she really closed her eyes tight she would always see a white face that looked like it was all pixelated. The only thing clear was the blobby and black hair.

" _Eden would never have done this! This wasn't Eden's fault! He's alive! He really is! ...Eden couldn't have killed him!_ " The child's voice would echo in her head.

And she didn't know. She didn't ever know why this child haunted her. She had never met that black haired child in her life.

She had no clue who they were.

But tomorrow she had to go into Eden.

* * *

Ami laid down in her bed the next morning and put on her headset. She watched as the world warped around her and she entered the world of Eden.

"Welcome to the virtual garden known as Eden! Eden is a virtual world that provides the services you need to maintain life in a generation filled with digital content." The welcome message filled Ami's ears. Her previous body was no longer there.

"The future of technology is not behind a screen it is through virtual reality. I will be happy to walk you through more of our services and we thank you for using Eden- provided by Kamishiro Enterprises." The message ended.

She was completely unconnected to her real body, all that was left was this virtual world and this cyber body. It felt exactly like her real one, it looked exactly like her real one, and she could feel everything in this world as if it was the real world.

It was just like going outside, except her real body was lying on a bed as if it was browsing the internet on a cellphone.

Her self made avatar looked exactly like she did. Pink hair in a pigtail, a goggle like compact and yellow and black socks and shirt.

 _Of course it does._ She reminded herself. _After all designing your avatar to be something different breaches the terms of service._ Sure weirdos did it, it was about as illegal as pirating but it was still wrong!

 _An ethical person would never design themselves to look like a monster. Or...An animal thing._ But did she trust all of Eden's users to be ethical?

Ami arrived in the eden entrance where most people met up. It looked mostly like it was some giant floating white boards, in a place where the sky was completely white like an open word document.

There were some benches around everywhere and some adult people walking around with devices probably calling others their co-workers to come, but besides that Ami didn't recognize anyone besides a few Mr. Navit's wandering around with items for sale and fake cyber drinks.

 _Blue Box and Akkino agreed to meet here, right?_ Ami realized for a second, panicking that she had not double checked the meeting location. _Heck, I don't even know what their real names are!_

She could definitely walk up to someone and call them Akkino. It sounded like a real name, but how could she walk up to someone, stare them in the eye and say 'hey blue box?'

 _God I'm so happy they don't have stupider names than what they chose._ The bigger issue was that she didn't know what they looked like either. _I'm sure Blue Box has blue hair because his avatar has blue hair but Akkino? A real life person can't look like a jellyfish._

Weird hair wasn't that weird after all. She had pink hair. Blue Box could definitely have blue hair since the most defining thing about him was that his name was Blue.

Ami quickly looked around the eden entrance for anyone who could resemble a jellyfish or a blue haired individual. But there was nothing.

"Where are my friends? This is why going into eden to meet new people is so hard. Because some people just forget to ask their online friends for names!" Ami sighed. She sat down on a bench wondering if she should ditch Eden entirely.

Then her digivice started ringing. Kind of clumsily Ami grabbed it off her head. She always liked to keep it in her goggle like hairband.

The digivice was the thing that helped people communicate in Eden. It was like a cellphone except it was always connected to your eden account. Ami was sure it was just a gimmick to sell more products since it was one of those things that you had to buy with the virtual reality headset. But she liked that it felt real and was in real life too.

"Hello?" Ami answered her digivice. An image appeared in front of her like it was a screen. Although she was sure only she could see the image that was visibly in front of her.

"You're running late!" A Mr. Navit with an incredibly angry expression was in front of her. His robotic face all red instead of the happy blue. "Be here in the Galacta Park in Kowloon to get your surprise!"

 _Ah. So this is the same hacked Mr. Navit as yesterday. So that's where we were supposed to receive our 'surprises'._ Ami realized.

Before she could fumble a response the image disappeared. "Thanks for telling me where I'm supposed to go, I guess."

Kowloon if she remembered correctly reading in a magazine was a public place for hang outs. It usually was known as more dangerous than the better maintained servers like the eden entrance. A lot of hacker groups liked to hang around the area along with people who just liked to hang around in the parks.

Ami quickly stood on the circle pad that allowed her to change urls to go to different areas. _I hope Blue Box and Akkino are waiting for me._

Blue box might be. He seemed to be smart. He would know where to go. Akkino? She wasn't too sure. She could be lost.

* * *

The world of kowloon looked weird. That was one way to describe it. It was nothing like anything Ami could imagine as she floated through the sky, as her particles were transmitted to the entrance.

It looked entirely digital for one thing, everything seemed to be made out of blocks and have tough edges. Sure there were colorful lights and amusement park rides like ferris wheels all over the place but something about it was weird. Perhaps it was the contrast of the deep blue colors everywhere verses the white of the rest of Eden. Maybe it was the fact that power lines were thrown about going to nowhere.

Ami landed near someone in a park, with pink hair like hers. The girl had a cute style to her hair in pink pigtails a pink jacket with a lot of buttons and a short blue dress covered by her pink jacket.

What was most surprising about the girl though was her pouting expression. "You have got to be joking!" She moaned, an odd brattiness in her voice. "I keep trying to shoo people away from here so I can meet up with my best friend! Now I gotta shoo another one away just so we can go on get some mystery gift?"

Ami looked sort of awkward. _Well she doesn't look like a jellyfish, but she does talk like Akkino._ "Umm...Are you Akkino?" She tried to ask.

The girl covered her mouth in surprise. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were AIOBA! I wouldn't have been so rude if I had known!"

Ami giggled a bit, "It's all right, I'm just happy to meet you-"

"And oh my gosh, you're so much cuter than I imagined! I mean I knew you were a girl in college and I knew you had pink hair-" Akkino clearly wasn't listening to her, too busy talking.

"Why did you think I had pink hair?" Ami tried to ask.

"You just struck me as that." Akkino said quickly brushing that subject away, "I just...I knew you were cute, but you really are cute! We're going to be the most beautiful girls in all of eden on this mission-"

Ami tuned out some of Akkino's compliments trying to gather her own words, "Umm...Hello...It's nice to see you, officially I mean. Meet you. I mean." She fumbled, "My real name's Ami. What's yours?"

Akkino giggled at Ami's fumbly introduction. "Is this like...Your first time logging into Eden? You don't seem to be too used to these online interactions. It's just like real life Ami! It's like one of those virtual reality animes." She giggled. "Nothing to worry about."

"I...I don't use eden much." Ami admitted.

"Well no wonder you never wanted to meet up before, you're not used to things! My name's Nokia Shiramine. It's great to finally meet you." Nokia grinned.

"It's good to meet you too, Nokia-" Ami was cut off again by Nokia's need to talk.

"Now where were you? I was left waiting here all alone in such a dangerous place! I bet if you were left alone in a place like this you'd be scared. Wouldn't you?" Nokia cried. "It was so hard, Ami. So hard. Why'd you leave me?"

"I um...got lost. I didn't know where to meet up." Ami defended. _I know shouting is the way Nokia makes friends and teasing but it's a little too much in person._ "But you weren't alone, right? Blue Box was here with you."

Nokia groaned. "Oh. Don't get me started on that guy. He showed up then he ran off on his own saying that he had seen a ghost and he left me all alone. Can you believe how rude that is?" Nokia shook her head. "I don't want to hear about that jerk."

"A ghost?" Ami asked. Could ghosts show up in Eden?

"Yeah, I linked to an article about it once, remember? The ghost in eden known as the pale boy. You guys never believed me when I talked about someone seeing it before, but I guess Blue Box thinks that he's a more credible source than me and is suddenly interested in it now." Nokia sighed. "He's so rude and full of himself! I don't know why he agreed to come along."

"Well I think he was worried about you-" Ami was cut off again.

"Well I mean it's just us girls now, maybe that's better? I mean I always did want it to be just us girls. He's a third wheel after all. It's better that we take down the hacker on our own. We're powerful!" Nokia boasted. "So…? Where do you want to go first?"

"Third wheel, huh?" A deep voice teased. "I didn't know you felt that way about Aioba, Nokia."

Nokia jumped at the sound of someone having sneaked up behind her. As she spun around she saw someone dressed entirely in a blue tracksuit like thing with a hoodie. He had black wild looking hair.

"Arata! You spooked me a bit, I thought you were that ghost you went looking for." Nokia gasped, looking like she was having a heart attack.

 _The most disappointing thing about him._ Ami thought to herself. _Is that he doesn't have blue hair._ Sure he wore a blue outfit, but black hair? She never would have guessed.

Blue Box did not have blue hair and was named Arata it seemed.

"Why'd you come hunting a hacker if you got scared by ghosts? Don't worry I'm here now so you don't have to pretend to be tough." Arata sighed.

"I'm not pretending! I am tough! And I'm not a coward! And I'm not afraid!" Nokia yelled in a retort.

 _They act just like they act in the chat._ Ami realized. _Always arguing._

"Anyway, I'm Arata Sanada. It's nice to meet you." Arata greeted Ami.

Ami shook his hand. "I'm Ami...It's really surprising you know that you don't have blue hair."

"Oh that's not all that's surprising." Nokia tried to step in and tease Arata some more. "He looks kind of slimey, you know? Got this creepy look in his eyes and everything and he acts totally egotistical. He wierds me out."

"Be quiet. My appearance isn't important." Arata scolded.

"Did you find that ghost you were looking for?" Ami tried to make conversation.

Arata quickly shook his head. "Nope. And I didn't find Mr. Navit either. In fact besides the people you shooed away Nokia and got to log out, there's no one else in Kowloon. Which is weird. This place is known for having people around."

"That's weird...I would assume if some big hacker was keeping this area unable to be accessed kamishiro would know about it, right?" Ami asked.

"Maybe it's some big practical joke." Nokia suggested. "Some online friends organized this or something so they could make fun of me."

Before Arata could tell her that was stupid, their digivice buzzed and Mr. Navit was on a screen in front of all of them.

"Hello! It's me, Mr. Navit. As promised I have a present for you good people who showed up today." The happy little robot told them.

It looked more like the real Mr. Navit than it had before.

There was static in front of Ami and she clutched her head. Arata, and Nokia clutched their heads too obviously also seeing the static. After a second it had finished.

"What happened?" Nokia asked, "That...That felt weird."

"We were hacked. Our digivices were hacked." Arata frowned. "Whoever that hacker is? They're good. I mean they even hacked me. And I have a lot stronger security than you two." He boasted. "Can I see your…?"

Ami handed Arata her digivice.

"A program was installed in our digivices called 'digimon capture' I think it helps with controlling the hacker program known as digimon." Arata shook his head. "Or well...Storing their data that is. You can't really use them without this program."

"Wait...You mean like the digimon I was talking about yesterday? The dangerous monster programs used by hackers!?" Nokia yelled, terrified. "If we can use them now does that mean...Oh no...They've forced us to become hackers! We fell right into their trap."

"Relax." Arata snickered a bit. "There's no digimon on the device. And you're not a hacker just because you have a program."

"Did this program get added to your device too, Arata?" Ami asked, seeing Arata fiddle with her digivice instead of his.

"...Yeah." Arata responded unconvincingly. Seeing that Ami was looking at him suspiciously he laughed again. "Nothing gets by you, huh, Miss Detective?" He sometimes liked to tease Ami and call her that, because she liked to analyze things. "I got hacked just like the rest of you, didn't I? So of course I have it too now." He handed Ami back her digivice.

She remained unconvinced.

"I want to delete this! I don't want any part in this hacker thing! I'm a good person! I only cheated on a test four times!" Nokia began to cry, "How do I get this thing off?"

"The program's protected, idiot. You can't delete it." Arata tried to tell her as she started shaking her digivice around.

Ami ignored their arguing as usual. However in the distance she saw a figure, but it quickly disappeared. "Arata…? Was that the hacker who controlled, Mr. Navit?"

Arata stopped arguing immediately. "Don't let that guy get away!" He charged after the direction Ami pointed in.

"Oh no way. I'm not going to chase after some scary hacker too." Nokia shook her head. "I'm going home before I get even more wrapped up in this illegal mess. I shouldn't have come here. Ami, you come too. It's probably safer elsewhere." She turned around to go to the log out pad.

However there was a giant wall in front of the log out pad. It was known as a firewall and was impossible to get through. And forced log outs were well known as dangerous.

"N-no...No way...Someone has to be joking...Have they trapped me in here? Does this mean I have to go to the hacker?" Nokia realized. "Ami...Ami! What do I do?" She whined.

"I think I read once that there's always multiple log out pads." Ami replied. "Maybe there's another further inside?"

Nokia wiped away some tears and nodded. "You're right. Wow, Ami, you're a lot tougher than I first thought. You're right, together we can make it through this place and escape without getting involved with hackers."

"..Shouldn't we try to help Arata though too?" Ami suggested.

"He can help himself. He's the one who ditched us and went chasing after an illusion." Nokia shrugged. "Come on, it's just you and me! We can get out of here."

Nokia offered her hand putting on a brave face. Ami didn't take it and instead walked forward heading deeper into kowloon.

 _I knew coming to Eden was a bad idea. But I don't think we're in any danger. I don't feel like a hacker would try to like...murder us or anything._

Ami knew enough about the eden server that killing someone online didn't mean they died in real life. Sure pain could be experienced, she was pretty sure (not like she had tested that) but death….? That didn't happen online.

So Ami kept walking.

* * *

Ami must have been walking faster than Nokia, or perhaps Nokia was too scared to continue deeper but eventually Ami didn't know where she was nor where either of friends were. She knew she was looking for Arata though.

In a clear area she saw an odd shiny figure, it looked like blue light but was pale white. The boy's form seemed turned away from her. Before Ami could shout out to them they disappeared.

 _Was that the ghost that people were talking about?_ Ami wondered. She did know that people complained about seeing a ghost of a pale boy. But it had just been the flicker of an image of a boy.

The logical part of her wanted to say it was an error made by eden or a practical joke by the eden staff. Everything was cyber after all, it could have just been programmed.

The image appeared again in front of her in the distance but would flicker away like a light. Suddenly Ami had a massive headache and everything seemed blurry and static. There were just black outs of the image of kowloon and the boy would get closer and closer.

Ami collapsed and in her hazy image she could see that the boy was next to her, his hand inching towards her face.

For some reason she didn't feel scared though, for once she felt at peace. He opened his mouth to say something to her.

His words never came, instead she blacked out, lying on the ground on kowloon. Was he a hallucination? A memory? A prank? She didn't know.

But she felt like he was real.

* * *

"Are you okay, Miss?" Ami heard a calm voice near her and opened her eyes to see the legs of the hallucination boy in front of her.

 _Arata?_ She wanted to ask, but when her vision came too she saw someone who was clearly not Arata.

It was the image of a pale boy. Except it looked more real. It looked exactly like the ghost she had seen earlier, long thin legs, white fluffy jacket, except his hair seemed to be pale white perhaps further concreting the 'ghost' look.

The person had white hair and could only be described as looking like a ghost.

"Yeah...I just...Collapsed. I must have been confused when I saw you." Ami decided. This boy looked exactly like the one she had seen then.

The person put his hand by his side and stared her down with cold eyes. "Ah yes. Don't worry about it. A lot of people confuse me for a ghost. I think it's my white hair." He sounded thoughtful. "Or it could be the rumors about me. People call me the wraith of eden."

Ami tried to get up. The person offered her a hand. His touch was gentle and he tried to give a kind of calm smile.

"You don't have to be so scared you collapse from the sight of me though. I assure you I'm very real and no ghost." The boy assured.

"Sorry...I'm not...I don't collapse usually. I'm in great health in real life. Maybe I just don't mesh well with eden." Ami apologized.

"Is this your first time?" The person asked curiously. "Most people usually spend quite a great amount of time on Eden. I mean I'm surprised to meet anyone actually who's not used to Eden." Despite his surprise, his expression seemed kind of plastic.

Ami nodded. "I...I don't know why but Eden's just kinda….Worried me? That's probably silly to say." She tried to smile. "You probably think I'm weird.

The person shook his head but didn't say anything in response. He looked gently at her, and patient with her story. "I understand."

He was quiet for a moment until his eyes glinted as he saw her digivice. "I see you have the program for digimon capture installed. Despite not being here long you've been chosen as a hacker, I see." He noted.

Ami put her digivice behind her, unsure of how he was able to see that so quickly. _Who is this guy?_ She wondered and wanted to ask. He didn't have a nickname that she could refer to him as. Maybe he was just 'the ghost boy.'

"Ah, I see you're a little confused." The person smiled, "I am a person who exists to guide people who are lost, like yourself. It seems you are lost as to what your purpose is."

"I'm actually lost in like...general. Not in a philosophical way." Ami corrected.

"But...Do you know your purpose? Do you know why you were chosen as a hacker or what hackers even do?" The ghostly boy asked.

"I...I'm just a college student. I don't really want to like...steal data I think?" She questioned as to what these people called hackers actually did.

The ghost boy shook his head. "It's true some hackers do steal data, but a lot of hackers do other things like find errors and report them, band together to become a chivalrous team, or try to protect eden in their own way. Others fight with their digimon just to prove their skill. But….You don't look like you'll be one of those who steal." He decided.

"Why do you say that?" Ami asked.

"Perhaps it's wishful thinking of wanting more good hackers in this world. Perhaps I just don't think a fledgling hacker can so quickly sink to evil." The boy shook his head. "But my guesses mean nothing. What do you want to be?"

"I don't know." Ami responded honestly, her feet twitched. She didn't know where she was or where her friends were. All she was was lost.

"You truly are just an egg, unhatched." The boy shook his head. "But in reality you don't even have to be a hacker if you don't want to. You could be anything. That's the great thing about Eden, it gives you limitless possibilities."

He paused and Ami realized he was giving her the chance to speak, something Nokia rarely did. She was at a loss for words though. "I...I don't really know. I don't know anything."

The person nodded. "Let me help then. You came to this area because you were interested in hackers were you not? The rumors that a hacker would be here?"

Ami finally nodded. She had come to help Nokia find a hacker. _And...Hackers do interest me a little. I have heard a lot about Zaxon on the news. They sound...Nice._

"And now you have a digimon capture program because of that." The person concluded. "So why don't you give it a try? Experiment with it and then you'll know more and be able to make an educated decision."

"But I haven't even seen any of these digital monster things roaming around." Ami replied. "I'm not sure how to use a capture device, and I don't know if I even want to capture something that roams around on it's own."

The person nodded. "They're a bit like pets for some people, and tools for others. But your device will just give you the ability to care for them. You don't have to capture any against your will." He paused again. "I actually have three digimon right now, I'll give you one to be your partner and it will help you better understand Eden and experience it."

Ami's eyes widened. _He'll give me one?_ Were they like...Little friendly robot things that could help lead someone through eden?

The person whistled and three creatures ran towards them. They didn't look anything like Ami had imaged.

They looked like friendly little monsters, they looked real...They didn't look like programs at all.

"I have three. But I would love for you to choose the one who fits with you best." The person instructed.

Ami looked amazed at the three obedient creatures. One looked like some sort of plant creature another was made out of gears and another looked like some floppy white and green rabbit.

"Hello! We're digimon. Will you be the hacker we partner up with?" The plant asked.

"We were watching from some of the bricks. You passed out didn't you? You poor thing." The rabbit had a slightly feminine voice but had big large and cute eyes.

 _They can talk?_ Ami wondered. They didn't look like just programs.

"I think the programmer who made them gave them each a personality. I'm not sure why." The person rubbed his head. "Have you decided on your partner?"

"That one." Ami pointed, there was something friendly about the white and green rabbit. Perhaps it was the big floppy ears and eager eyes. Also the curiosity in its eyes were also filled with worry.

"I knew she'd choose me, what did I say?" The rabbit boasted.

"It's called a Terriermon." The person smiled, "And it looks like it fits you."

Terriermon raised it's arms to let Ami pick it up. Ami picked up the rabbit creature. It was soft, but not as fluffy as she imagined.

 _What does a hacker do with these things?_ Ami found herself asking.

Terriermon reached up like it had it's own mind and swished a falling piece of hair out of her face. "I'm your partner. You don't have to worry about collapsing anymore. I'll protect you."

"I don't faint usually. That was rare." Ami tried to reassure, still feeling bizarre for talking to a monster. This entire day had been like some fever dream.

"I promise." Terriermon's big eyes were wide and it shushed her. It's hands papping her cheeks felt gentle. It was almost motherly in it's affectionate.

Ami hadn't seen her mother for a long time. She was working over seas. But there was something sweet about this creature.

"It looks like you're bonding already." The ghost boy said in front of her looking relieved, "You seem quiet kind towards your digimon. I don't talk to my digimon quite as much." He admitted. "I...I believe that you'll be a kind hacker."

He watched Ami and Terriermon play for a moment

"I need to tell you though that the stronger you get as a hacker the stronger your digital monster will become. If you choose to, you could train and immense power would be yours." He said rather cryptically. "Just remember to be responsible if you ever get that power. Hackers need to remember to be responsible, and never succumb to the throws of chaos."

Ami looked at him oddly. "I'm not after power." She replied honestly, "I was just curious as you said. I wanted to know about this digimon device. Thank you for showing me." Terriermon climbed onto her shoulder.

"You're welcome. I wanted to help someone confused." The ghostly boy responded. "And I wanted to show you that hacker programs aren't scary. Hackers have been with Eden since it's creation. And the first duty of a hacker is to protect Eden, not harm."

Ami thought for a moment. "Are you a hacker?" With the way the ghostly boy was talking he sure did have a lot of good things to say about hackers. She covered her mouth. "Sorry that was abrupt! I didn't mean to ask you something so blunt."

The ghostly boy smiled for a moment and raised his arm. "You are very kind and thoughtful. I think you will be an irregularity among our kind." With the raising his arm he summoned his digimon.

It looked like a giant metal dinosaur with giant claws and blasters. It was huge. "Machinedramon." The boy spoke, "Is my partner. And yes, I am a hacker." He had a spark in his eyes. "I'm glad I could make your acquaintance..."

"Ami." Ami replied.

"Oh your name is Ami, huh?" Terriermon asked. "Pretty name. Don't you think so too?"

The ghostly boy didn't answer. "It's nice to meet you. I hope your digimon helps lead you through kowloon and helps you not be so lost." He turned around with his digimon.

"Wait! Before you go..." Ami tried to stop him, "Have you seen my friend? I think he went in this direction. He was wearing a large coat..."

"Ah yes. The other weird one." The ghostly boy nodded. "I offered him one of these three digimon but he did not take it nor want it. I really did think he would take the one made out of gears." He pointed across some platforms, "He went to the area over there. There's a logout zone there so if you want to leave I would suggest following the path as well."

"Thank you!" Ami nodded. The ghost boy started to walk away but then turned around.

"I didn't tell you my name, did I?" The boy asked. "I'm Yuugo. Yuugo from Team Zaxon."

"Zaxon?" Ami asked. The biggest hacking group? The one always blamed on the news?

Yuugo smiled, "I see you've heard of us. I would advise you to join us if you want to become the best that there is. We're incredibly strong." He boasted a little bit.

Before Ami could reject his offer he checked his watch. "Ah, I got to go." He turned around to walk away. "But remember Ami, our doors are always open to you. I'm sure you could make a great hacker. Zaxon needs kind people like you."

And with that he bid her farewell and left. Ami watched him go.

 _He seemed kind._ Ami thought to herself. _I mean he was a hacker but does that matter? He helped give me support when I was lost._ And she sure did like the Terriermon looking at her.

Something about him was so mysterious, but it drew her curiosity. Perhaps it was how gentle he was, she always did trust gentle people.

She tried to shake Yuugo out of her head and follow his advice to where Arata was.

* * *

Nokia walked into an open area with several arches. Her legs were wobbling and she was scared.

"Where did those two go? AMI! This isn't fun! Where are you? Let's go!" She pouted. If this was a prank it was a bad one.

First Arata had barreled off to look around and next her bff Ami.

She heard some noise in the distance. "Augh! What if those are the hackers that got Ami! What if hackers kidnapped Ami?" She covered her mouth scared.

There was someone running. She clamped her mouth shut and tried to listen.

"Quickly!" A high-pitch voice said.

"You're going to fast." Another deeper voice responded. Like a flash of lightning it looked like little monsters had ran past Nokia.

Nokia peered towards the end of what looked like a hall. And then two heads bobbed forward and peered towards her.

"Quiet." The cute orange dinosaur looking one said. And then a striped blue reptilian thing was above it staring down at Nokia.

Kowloon was weird. She never should have come here.

* * *

"AHH!"

Ami heard a girl scream. She chased after the sound and quickly found Nokia, surrounded by two digimon running around her.

"AHH! AHH!" Nokia screamed. "What are these things?" She looked like she was frozen in terror as the two ran around her, looking like they were playing.

"Who are you?" The orange dinosaur asked, ignoring Nokia's question.

"Wait, you can talk?" Nokia was still completely terrified but now she was a little more confused. "Wait are you those digimon I keep hearing about! God you are pretty cute so you must be digimon."

"Nokia, are you all right?" Ami asked.

"I think the poor thing's frightened to death." Terriermon didn't sound like it had much sympathy. It was snickering a bit in fact.

Nokia barely looked at the digimon on Ami's shoulder. "Y-yeah! No thanks to you! Ditcher!" She teased. "M-my name's Nokia! What's your's?" She stuttered out to the digimon.

"I'm Agumon!" Agumon responded.

"And...I'm Gabumon." The striped one was more quiet.

Nokia stopped raising her arms in fear and smiled. "You've got some weird names." She giggled a bit. "You're not so scary. Are these digimon what everybody's making the fuss about?"

"Weird? But...You've got the weird name. You're not a Nokiamon. Where's your mon?" Agumon asked confused.

Gabumon nodded in agreement.

"I'm not weird!" Nokia smiled and complained. "My name is cute."

Agumon and Gabumon stopped talking and stared at her.

"What?" Nokia asked. "Aww, am I so beautiful I left you speechless?" She teased.

"No..You smell familiar." Agumon sniffed. "I don't get it."

"Yeah...She does smell familiar. And reassuring." Gabumon agreed. "Like something from our past?"

Nokia giggled. "See? Saying a girl's familiar and sweet is how you treat someone when you first meet. Not ditching them." She teased Ami. "Well...Don't smell me I guess. That's kind of weird." She noticed the digimon on Ami's shoulder. "You found one too?"

"I'm Ami's partner. Who are you?" Terriermon sort of bristled defensively.

"This is my friend, Nokia." Ami introduced. She nodded. "When I was looking for Arata and a way out this nice boy gave me one."

Nokia frowned at that comment. "So you ditched me to pick up boys?" She teased.

Ami shook her head. "I think we just ran into each other."

"Ah so it was a meet cute? You know I can do a meet cute too. I'm pretty cute myself..." Nokia was being a little bashful but Ami wasn't really paying attention to her. Instead she was looking at the digimon who were inching away.

"It's a scary person and digimon!" Gabumon complained.

Terriermon stuck out it's tongue. "Get lost, wimps."

"Hey, that's not nice!" Nokia frowned at Ami's digimon, "And you don't have to be scared. Ami's my friend guys."

"She's scary!" Agumon agreed, and with that Gabumon and Agumon both ran away quickly.

"Wait!" Nokia sighed. It was too late, they were gone. "I guess it's okay. Those little guys had places to be after all. They seemed busy." She sighed again. She liked them though. "I guess digimon aren't as scary as I thought. Who knows maybe this digimon capture device could be useful? Agumon and Gabumon seemed cool after all."

"Not all digimon aren't scary. Some can be." Terriermon tried to tease.

"Are there more little guys around this area, Ami?" Nokia asked. "What if Arata's in trouble himself if digimon are scary? We need to find him." She decided.

"There's a logout area over there." Ami pointed. "I heard someone say they saw Arata go that way too."

Nokia nodded. "Well then since you've got the digimon I'll follow your lead."

* * *

"Do...You ever feel deju vu, Ami?" Nokia asked, "Or well...A feeling of unexplained nostalgia or that you've met someone or done something before?"

"You mean do I feel lost?" Ami asked, "Yeah I can't tell any of this scenery apart." She just wanted to find Arata and hopefully leave Eden.

"No, I mean...Is there any sort of feelings you can't really explain? Like...When I met those digimon they felt nostalgic. Like I've met them before or something." Nokia explained her feeling. Do you ever feel like that?

" _Eden didn't kill him. Eden couldn't have."_ Ami heard the child's voice in her head. The unexplained mystery of who that was or why she had a fear of Eden.

She just shook her head. "I've...Never felt like that. Like an unexplained feeling like that."

"Oh. Well sometimes I feel like important things have happened in my childhood. Adventures like this." Nokia replied. "Like everyone else is forgetting something important except for me. You know?"

Ami was quiet but shook her head again. She covered her ears to silence the child.

"...You don't feel like we've...ever met before?" Nokia asked carefully, nibbling a bit on her lip. "Like in person, not in chat."

Ami looked confused. _I'm not sure what she's getting at but maybe to let her know that I should hear her I should respond like she would in this situation?_ "Are you hitting on me?" Ami smiled and teased trying to be more like Nokia.

Nokia was silent. "Maybe it's just me...Maybe I'm just making things up….Or maybe I'm the only one who remembers." She sighed.

Ami felt static rip through her head. She covered her eye trying to will out the image. But she saw it anyway in black and white.

There was this reoccurring image in her mind like some memory she had never lived of five children, she tried to never focus on them in her memories. They were just black, white and gray blotches.

She didn't want to see those ghost children. Who were they? She didn't want to think about them?

Nokia looked concerned but said nothing. "We...We should get going." She decided knowing this conversation topic was hurting Ami.

"Y-yeah." Ami agreed.

"Are you okay?" Terriermon asked

"Yeah." Ami lied. It was just a reoccurring weird thing.

"If...If something's wrong...Talking to your digimon can help. I can't share your memories but I do feel your feelings." Terriermon confessed. "I can help. That's why you chose me. To help."

Ami said nothing and just continued walking. She didn't notice the flickering image of a ghost behind her.

* * *

Ami finally saw Arata standing next to the logout panel.

"Who was he? I know I saw a flicker of some image...But it can't really be a ghost can it? It's gotta be some hacker's prank." Arata was talking to himself. "Ugh why can't I stop thinking about it?"

"Arata-!" Ami tried to wave, but Nokia interrupted her as usual.

"Thanks for ditching me, jerk! You're part of a group right now! And you can't just think about yourself." She scolded placing her hands on her hips and yelling.

As Nokia yelled at Arata like usual Ami felt the flicker of static again go across her vision. _I wonder if something is wrong with my eden headset._ She realized.

But then she saw Nokia and Arata look up to. They had seen it that time?

A bright light appeared in the sky along with a golden circle surrounding it. The light seemed to open up like a hole in time.

And then Ami could only describe it as a nightmare, crawled out. A strange white creature that resembled an octopus covered in barcodes squirmed out of the hole and dropped down in front of them. It had a giant red core that looked like it should be an eye and it lit up and stared at them.

"Ami. Ami. Get your friends out of here. That thing...That thing is dangerous." Terriermon whispered jumping down in front of Ami.

Ami could feel her blood run cold.

"W-what...What is that?" Nokia asked shivering.

"Must be a digimon." Arata decided. "What else could it be? Or maybe it's that rumored black and white monster of Eden you linked us to. You know...The one that devours peoples data? Like a garbage disposal?" He teased.

Nokia wasn't in a teasing mood for once she was completely silent.

Arata stopped teasing realizing whatever that giant monster was was serious. And for some reason he felt his hands get clammy too. "Ami, Nokia, listen to me...Run. Log out."

Ami moved immediately towards the log out panel, but Nokia didn't. She was paralyzed by fear.

"Nokia, come on! You need to move!" Arata yelled, as the tentacle thing moved closer to Nokia. "Nokia!" There was no longer any teasing or scolding words, he sounded really worried.

"Umm..." Nokia just stood there in utter terror unable to move.

Before the thing reached Nokia, the two digimon who had befriended Nokia before ran over, pushing her out of the way. Their claws were out, ready to fight.

"Hey, it's you!" Nokia seemed to snap out of it.

"We'll protect you!" Agumon declared.

"Log out like your friend said. This thing is dangerous." Gabumon instructed.

Arata stood by the panel waiting for Nokia to join him. "I'll distract it, you go to the log out zone. Now!" He volunteered, staring at the tentacle monster.

For some reason Arata's words sounded so stern, so serious. And for some reason despite their calmness they scared Ami more than anything.

" _I'll distract it."_ A child's voice was in her head. Ami didn't know who's. But she couldn't let Arata be the same as the child.

"No!" Ami screamed running forward to fight with Gabumon and Agumon. Her fear, her emotions running wild. Arata let her push him out of the way to fight.

A bright light surrounded Terriermon in honor of Ami's emotions. In front of Ami stood a much larger digimon about her size with giant machine guns on it's hands.

Gargomon.

"I'll protect you. That's what I swore as your partner." Gargomon vowed shooting at the monster as Agumon and Gabumon sprayed it with something that resembled fire.

None of the bullets seemed to do anything to the giant monster. The monster didn't even notice the fire, it just kept slithering forward, creeping closer and closer to Ami and her friends.

"Why am I so weak?" Agumon cried. "We have to help them...But we're not doing anything at all to it!"

"Nokia, log out! Now!" Arata ordered, trying to make sure his friends were safe first.

"But...But what about the digimon?" Nokia asked worriedly.

"They'll be fine! You being here and in danger is holding them back. They can't use this whole field to fight because we're here!" Arata yelled, "So you've gotta leave and be safe!"

Nokia nodded and since Arata had told her she could go, she immediately ran into the log out zone, beaming up and away.

Arata smiled, glad that at least one of them was out of there. He glanced at Ami. "I'll go next!" He decided seeing that the monster was closest to Ami since she had rushed forward to distract it. "You follow after me!" He ordered.

"Okay-" She couldn't finish because Arata had taken the opportunity to leave. He had acted tough despite his fears of that big giant thing.

 _They're both safe. Now I can go too._ Ami realized. She ran towards the log out zone as gargomon ran next to her, trying to protect her. _I'm almost there…._

The monster followed after her swiping for her feet, she stumbled as she ran, but kept on running as it kept swiping.

Just as her hand reached the logout panel the monster got her. She could feel it's spikey tentacle on her leg as she grabbed her.

"Force log out!" She cried the moment it touched her. She saw Gargomon turn blue and staticy. It almost looked like the digimon was getting smaller.

But everything blacked out before she could focus on it. She only heard and saw static as she disappeared.

* * *

" **Warning, an unexpected error occurred during the logout process for Ami Aiba. The logout process can not continue.**

 **The logout process can not continue.**

 **The logout process can not continue."**

Ami didn't hear the words in her head, she saw them float by. She didn't hear much of anything right now.

 _An error occurred?_ She wondered. _What...What happened then?_

" **Logout successful! Thank you for using Eden!** " The words suddenly flashed by her head.

Ami imagined that she smiled in relief.

She was safe then!

 _Then why don't I feel safe?_ She wondered.

Slowly though she started hearing things again, she could hear bustling streets and people walking by.

 _I logged into Eden in my room though._ The light bothered her eyes.

"What's that? It looks gross." Someone said.

"How did they get their body like that?" Another asked.

"It must be a publicity stunt." Another laughed.

Ami slowly realized what she was. She was in the middle of a crowded street, but her body wasn't the same. Her entire body was made out of digital data and sparkling. She could see that she had a silhouette in her hands, but she couldn't see her. She didn't have skin. She just had little digitalized parts of her.

She was just blue patched pieces.

She wanted to scream but she didn't have a mouth.

"God that's gross! Get out of the street or I'm going to arrest you!" A police officer yelled. She barely noticed the rude police officer.

 _What...What...What happened to my body?_ Ami felt terrified. What was she? All she could hear was the chanting of people calling her a monster.

She couldn't cry because she didn't have eyes.

A car drove by and skidded right next to Ami before the police officer could arrest her. The car seemed to drive between Ami and the police officer.

Then the passenger door flung open, with a woman inside. The woman didn't seem to have a proper shirt on, just leaving a white t shirt hanging hugely open and looked like she was in her mid 30's. She had long blonde hair and pink sunglasses. Despite her weird looking shirt she looked trendy. Perhaps she was a model.

She tapped the seat next to her and smiled, "Get in." She offered. "You have a very interesting condition and I'd like to help you." She explained.

Ami couldn't ask her why, she didn't have a mouth and she didn't have time. So she cautiously got into the woman's car.

The car drove away from the police and onlookers immediately with Ami inside.

"You can't talk right now, can you? I mean you don't have a mouth." The woman realized. "Don't worry though, I'm used to the very strange. It doesn't bother me."

The woman thought for a moment. "I realize now that I don't know if you can hear me. If you don't have a mouth that means there's a chance you don't have ears. Can you hear me?"

Ami nodded, desperate for someone, anyone to help her.

"Oh good. I mean I knew you used to be human but I didn't know what I would do if you couldn't understand me." The woman sighed. "You must be very confused. Do you know why this happened to you?"

Ami shook her head. That was all she could do in her condition after all.

"I unfortunately don't know why this happened either. But I'm a detective so I can fashion some guesses as to what's going on." The woman paused. "Your body is in an extreme digital state which I wasn't sure was possible on this plane. It's as if your body is an avatar in eden yet somehow managed to logout into this world. It's very interesting."

The woman thought for a moment. "This is a solely unique phenomenon I've never heard of this happening before. I think you're the only one who gets to be this lucky."

 _I'd call it unlucky._ Ami wanted to frown. If it was only her who had a digital body that meant that Arata and Nokia probably logged out safely though.

"Oh don't worry about anything right now. I can't see your face but I can read nervous body movements." The woman reassured. "Just worry about yourself. You seem to be in dire situations."

She thought again. "You're in Shinjuku by the way. I was out doing work when I found you." The woman smiled, an oddly friendly smile. "I'm going back to my office in Nakano where I can help you probably."

Ami didn't say anything she couldn't.

"Oh I've forgotten to say who I am. I'm..." The woman paused. "Kyoko Kuremi." She spoke abruptly. "And I'm a detective."

And with that Kyoko continued driving her car. And Ami was left to her own thoughts and horror at the state of her body.

* * *

 **If you haven't played cyber sleuth please tell me in a review if I need more or less details to make things make sense. My goal is for this story to be able to be understood by people who haven't played the game.**


	2. Chapter 1 Ami

**This is the chapter where you realize I'm just writing a cyber sleuth fic to give content to my cyber sleuth otp that nobody writes for, and also just make everybody extremely gay.**

 **Who knew that a probably 100,000 word fanfic would exist just to fill a gaping hole of needing f/f content.**

* * *

Ami didn't really pay attention to much once Kyoko had taken her to a giant mall called Nakano Broadway. The detective helped her in the back entrance of her office, a neat little place with two sofas a desk, and scattered papers everywhere.

Ami usually liked observing everything, scrutinizing details and figuring out a person before interacting with them, but she couldn't think. Her mind felt like it was in the same place as her body, bits and pieces just sparkling off of her, just disjointed bits of data cobbled together.

 _This has to be a nightmare. Please...Make it stop._ Ami wanted to scream. The entire day in Eden had felt like a nightmare, that monster that she could still feel deep in her mind grabbing her leg, meeting the creatures known as digimon, seeing ghosts. It was all a nightmare.

But her mind didn't feel like it was trapped in a dream. For some reason everything felt real, everything looked real. All the details were concrete. Her body didn't feel like anything, the only memories of any sensation she had was that twisted creature grabbing her.

If she had lungs anymore she would be hyperventilating, but Ami couldn't even do that.

Kyoko sat her down on one of the sofas and watched her trying to examine her for any movement that could clarify any personality or desire whatsoever. It was clear from Kyoko's eyes that she liked observing and making inferences as much as Ami usually did.

Kyoko was tapping on her computer, "Your name is Ami Aiba, correct?" She finally asked.

 _How...How did she know my name? Did she look it up? But I never gave her that information to find it._ Ami wondered. She discarded that confusion and nodded quickly knowing she had to give as much detail to the detective as possible.

"Your current address is not listed as in Shinjuku. That doesn't makes a whole lot of sense. I would have guessed that you logged in close to the place you materialized in. But that doesn't seem to be the case." She shook her head. "The only thing I can say for sure about your condition is your mental data seperated from your physical body and seems to have materialized in the real world." Kyoko told her.

Ami just stared forward blankly. _Can that happen? Can mental data separate from a physical body?_ She had never ever heard of that happening before.

"All I know is we need to gain more information and quickly. This is a wholly unique situation." Kyoko decided. She stared at Ami and crossed her arms. "Don't worry." She giggled after a second. "I promise I will do everything in my power to help you. It's my duty after all. I'm here for you."

 _Why?_ Ami couldn't ask that, but Kyoko's desire seemed odd and suspicious. She had never met this woman in her life after all. Why did she want to help her? _Maybe she means it's her duty as a detective. Public servants are supposed to be nice and helpful to people in trouble._

If she was a detective she'd want to help people in trouble too. Ami quickly shook the image of the police officer out of her head who had tried to arrest her for just looking weird.

Kyoko's eyes widened when she realized Ami probably thought she was being weird. "Oh don't misunderstand. I wish to help you because your case is interesting." She quickly explained, "The payment for helping you is the information regarding your situation. I always take interesting things." She smiled cunningly. "Your existence is the payment for my help."

 _So she's a weirdo. But at least I can understand her motivation._ Ami decided.

"Hmmm...Before we figure out things like what happened to your real body, I think we'll have to figure out a way to be able to communicate with you." Kyoko decided. "At your current state you can't speak, can't feel...You're just a mass of data basically." Kyoko realized. "So we've gotta fix your appearance and figure out a temporary fix."

Ami looked down at what was her hand. It was just a long blue tube of data. _How...How is she going to fix this?_ She wanted to stop looking like a monster, but she didn't know how.

"If your body currently is made up of data, we should be able to make repairs by incorporating new data in." Kyoko started speaking in computer lingo.

Ami didn't really understand. She tried to listen to all the science of her new body but couldn't keep up.

"Basically I think if we bring in your information from your Eden avatar you may be able to have what looks like a normal body again." Kyoko summarized. "We...Just have to find your eden avatar. We have no idea if it was corrupted during your log out after all."

 _I don't even know if I can log in to Eden either. I don't have a body to use to log in._ Ami thought to herself. She couldn't access her avatar's records in Eden if she wasn't in Eden.

"Perhaps parts of your avatar are lying in the place you were last in when you logged out..." Kyoko suggested.

 _Kowloon. That was Kowloon._ Ami didn't want to go back there. She hoped the monster was gone that had attacked her, but she knew she had to try.

Kyoko quickly went into her desk to get a headset to put on Ami's digital body, in hopes that she could log into Eden.

Ami beat her to the punch as she was looking. She walked over to a big TV and tried to set up her Eden account, or open the Eden settings.

As she was approaching the TV she heard a woman's voice. _"Over here. Jump in."_ It instructed.

For some reason the idea of jumping into a TV didn't seem as weird as being a digital body. Ami reached out her hand.

"What's wrong?" Kyoko asked.

Before Ami could respond with a head shake, a hole appeared where her hand had pointed and her body was sucked up into the TV, making her disappear.

Kyoko could only stare. Ami was gone.

* * *

Ami floated in the air, someplace that wasn't Kyoko's office and wasn't Eden. She could see digital data going past her, but she wasn't sure where she was.

There were pathways and circles everywhere seeming like they were leading her someplace.

 _Where am I?_ Ami wondered. Did the fact that she was data somehow gift her with new abilities? Was there a reason she had been cursed like this?

Was this teleportation? _No. I think...I think I'm traveling through the digital or electronic connects to someplace else._ Ami looked among the roads.

Had she uploaded herself to the web through the TV screen? Could she enter electronics now? That was a super power that didn't seem worth losing her body.

"Ami! Ami, there you are!" Ami heard a voice calling for her. A slightly high pitch voice.

She looked around and saw some sort of creature bounding towards her among the roads. It flashed blue for a second, bits of data coming off of it, just like her body was.

 _Terriermon…._ Ami realized recognizing the feeling. Something was odd about their relationship. She hadn't known her digimon for very long, but she felt connected to it.

The creature that ran towards her however, was not terriermon. It looked like Terriermon sure, but it was different. The rabbit was not white and green, it was brown and pink and it had three horns.

By the time the digimon had gotten to her the flashing had stopped, the little bits and pieces of it's previous form floating into the sky. Ami noticed that those blue pieces had bits of white and green.

"I….I failed you...Yuugo instructed me to be your digimon and teach you about hackers. He presented me to you and you chose me...But I failed you." The tiny digimon cried.

Ami knelt down next to it. Nobody else was here in this cyber world. But somehow her digimon, despite being in a different form, had found her.

 _It's okay. It could have attacked you too. It...hurt you...Didn't it?_ Ami wanted to say, but she couldn't talk. She reached her hand up to her digimon's cheek and stroked it as her digimon cried at it's failure.

"I'm sorry! I deserve this cursed form!" The digimon cried. It seemed to understand what Ami wanted to say despite her not having this form. "...At least….Even though you're damaged I'm able to experience your pain with you. I'll never be what I used to be now."

 _What..._ Ami wondered. _Wait..._ Were a digimon and partner somehow connected? Why had her partner's body somehow been corrupted to by the monster touching her? What had happened to her digimon's body?

"When...When that thing...Touched you and tried to destroy you….Our emotions resonated I think." The digimon explained. "Your emotions were already so strong because they made me digivolve. But...I think the data corruption got to me too and degenerated me." The digimon revealed.

 _Why aren't you Terriermon anymore then?_ Ami wanted to ask. If a digivolution made a digimon stronger shouldn't degenerating put them back in their old form?

"I'm...I'm something new. I'm Lopmon now." Lopmon told Ami. "I've...Never heard of a digimon becoming something different when they degenerate. It only happens when a digimon dies. I think...Your corruption must have made it like I died." Lopmon told her.

 _...My condition did this? Oh no._ Ami didn't exactly know if digimon were just programs. But Lopmon...Lopmon seemed to be crying. Not for herself, but for Ami. Because she had failed.

She was punishing herself harder than anyone else would punish her. She seemed to think it was her job as Ami's digimon to stop this.

Ami scooped Lopmon up in her digital arms. Terriermon- No Lopmon was suffering too. They both were. This tragedy had taken their bodies.

 _We'll survive._ Ami wanted to say. And with Lopmon by her side she tried to push her sadness down and travel through these digital nodes.

She had to find Eden, and kowloon. She had to find her avatar's body.

* * *

Ami eventually found what seemed like an exit in the tunnels that were digital nodes. She came out in one of the floating panels that she knew was an Eden hang out area.

Her digivice started ringing and she opened it to see Kyoko's face floating before her. "Oh good! I finally found you!"

 _She was looking for me?_ Ami asked herself. Kyoko looked incredibly relieved and worried. It made sense since Ami had disappeared in front of her. _I guess...She is somewhat of a normal person. People just disappearing is weird to her._ Maybe Kyoko saw her a bit like a kid, she just wanted to help someone sick. Her worry seemed nice after all.

"I was looking for you and I finally found a trace of your data." Kyoko admitted. "What happened? You looked...Looked like you got sucked up by the TV. And humans don't usually...Well, I guess this must be a side effect of your condition." Kyoko realized. "You are digital data after all. And digital data can be transmitted."

She seemed to find a conclusion quickly. The way she said 'humans' sounded odd though. Ami dismissed it.

"I think I'm going to call your power to submerge from the real world into a digital one, a connection jump." Kyoko decided weirdly. She sounded excited about labeling new abilities.

 _Connection Jump...I suppose that makes sense. I have the ability to now travel directly into Eden._ Ami didn't really feel as excited as Kyoko did. Perhaps she just felt extremely sad about her body being this way.

"I think I've located parts of your avatar data in Kowloon. Please head there." Kyoko requested.

Ami nodded and headed to the panel that would let her change areas.

" _This way. Come on over here."_ The voice that had told her to jump seemed to be in her head.

Ami for some reason wanted to follow it. She allowed herself to not choose Kowloon but instead fall in a different area.

She didn't know where she was going, but she felt that it was important.

* * *

Ami came to in a laboratory. There were wires everywhere, and despite knowing that it was part of eden, it looked like the real world.

A woman with curly purple hair and glasses sat in front of her, smiling. She pet two cats, one black and one white.

 _Oh great. The voice calling me was a crazy cat lady._ Ami realized.

"I'm actually a digital witch, thank you very much." The lady corrected.

Instinctively Ami covered her mouth despite the fact that her words hadn't come from it.

"It's all right. I'm not insulted." The woman spoke, "I just wanted to meet you. After all I found it interesting that you could hear my voice. Not many people can interact with me." She pushed up her glasses.

"Hmm...Maybe not many people can interact with you because this space is closed off?" Lopmon was also in this world, which furthered Ami's proof that this was not the real world. "I mean...This isn't her world." She gestured to Ami, "This isn't Eden. And this isn't the digital world. This is some other world or place between all of that."

"Digimon always were smarter about this place than people." The woman smiled, "Yes, this is a space between time and space I created for myself to let myself do research. Sometimes I visit worlds for materials but I prefer to stay here, in my own world."

 _A place between time and space?_ Ami wanted to ask. Usually the idea of a place between time and space sounded stupid to her, but for some reason right now it sounded very appealing. She didn't want to go back to a world where she didn't have a body. Sure she seemed like she was just digital particles now, but...She felt more secure in this tiny space.

"You can't stay here." The woman told her, "You...Are an incredibly unique and special individual. I've seen many young people's adventures with digimon, watched them, advised them, done a number of things across this multiverse...But...You are incredibly special. Nobody else I've ever met has been separated from their body and has been able to return to the real world in a digital one." The woman looked interested.

"Sorry I just wanted to meet you, and offer the ability to come here and rest every now and then, or regain your strength. I'm more of an observer than a person and I would love for you to succeed in your adventure." The woman laughed, "I inserted myself a little bit in your life to help you."

"You sound like a weirdo. Who are you?" Lopmon asked.

"My name is Mirei. I own this place called the digilab, which I use as a paradise for digimon. I help fix them or treat them." She looked at Lopmon, "I could help you with your condition if I wished, but I think it would just be more interesting to keep you as a lopmon."

Lopmon seemed to snarl a bit at the offer to help but the refusal to just because it was amusing. "I don't like this woman, Ami. Let's leave. We have to find your avatar anyway."

Mirei smiled. "Leave? You can leave anytime you want. You can come back anytime you want. But won't you allow me to help your human partner a bit before you go?"

 _Help?_ Ami didn't know exactly if she wanted to leave. She didn't know if she wanted to do anything. Still a part of her wondered if Mirei could fix digimon, if she could possibly fix her.

"I can't fix your condition. I'm sorry." Mirei finally admitted. "I myself don't have a body to go back to. Perhaps it died long ago when I created a space between realms and uploaded by consciousness." Her voice was less humorful for a moment, less amused a little sorrowful.

Ami looked at the scientist and wondered how old she was for a moment. She could feel a pain in her chest about not knowing how one's body was doing though.

"I do….Want to offer you something though. Protection." Mirei confessed. "Or help in your journey a little bit."

"She has all the protection she needs!" Lopmon bristled. "I'm her digimon after all!" Lopmon had already decided that she didn't trust Mirei or like her.

"But you failed, didn't you?" Mirei reminded, "You couldn't protect your partner, could you not?" She placed her hand by her mouth smirking at Lopmon's disgrace.

Lopmon flopped down, unable to argue that fact.

"All I wish to do is give you a gift, young traveler." Mirei spoke to Ami. "Another digimon that might be able to give you some solace for your condition. Emotional support is very necessary when one's body is in shambles after all." As if showing her point Mirei put one of her cats in her lap and pet it. The cat meowed.

 _Emotional support?_ Ami had heard about emotional support pets in times of tragedies. She had just never planned on having one herself.

"She has me!" Lopmon cried again.

"Don't speak for your partner, let the child decide." Mirei scolded.

Lopmon looked at Ami.

 _You can have more than one digimon?_ Ami was confused.

"Of course you can. The digivice made through Eden give you the ability to have a strong bond with three." Mirei explained.

Ami didn't know that. She saw no harm in having a second one. She could always use more help and more friends. And perhaps having another one would help her have the strength to beat one of the monsters if they came for her again.

"Fine! She can have another partner. But I'm the leader of the partners!" Lopmon boasted. "I'm the strongest after all."

"Obviously." Mirei rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I have an egg I've been keeping safe just for you." She turned to Ami and handed her a digiegg. "I want you to see what it's like to create a digimon."

Ami touched the egg. Despite her body not being able to feel anything at this moment, she could feel the hard shell. It cracked open and a small gooey green creature hatched with a pacifier.

"Hewwo, I'm Pabumon." The baby tried to speak. It moved closer to nuzzle up to Ami. The goop didn't get in her.

"It's a baby. I'm sure it'll be able to give Ami lots of help." Lopmon mocked.

"I'm...Help-" Pabumon struggled to talk. It decided to just be quiet and nuzzle up to Ami.

Ami didn't mind. She found the creature cute. _Thank you. I think I just needed someone quiet to help me collect my thoughts._ She realized.

Mirei nodded. "Please visit again! And good luck!"

Before Ami could ask anymore questions, her and her two digimon were sent out of the lab and back to kowloon.

* * *

By the time Ami ran over to the park that she had met Nokia in before, her digivice was rumbling again. When she answered it Kyoko was on the screen again.

"I lost your signal, are you okay? Where did you go?" Kyoko asked.

 _Was she watching my signal this entire time?_ The protectiveness was sweet, and Ami certainly needed the help but she wondered why Kyoko was so desperate to help her, again.

"Mirei." Pabumon spoke up.

Kyoko didn't ask what that thing was. "Ah. Mirei. That makes sense. She finds herself drawn to unique things."

 _Kyoko knows Mirei?_ Ami found herself wondering.

"I've been called to her lab before too. Don't worry. We're...Acquaintances. Yes." Kyoko nodded. She was silent for a moment. "You have some great luck. It's rare for her to take an interest in anyone. That will help you on your journey to get your real body, her being a benefactor."

Ami nodded, that being the only thing she could do.

"I scanned the area of kowloon for your data. I found where some of your avatar pieces were. I'm sending the locations to you." Kyoko told her. "I look forward to meeting you in your normal body, Ami."

Ami would have smiled. She was one step closer to not looking like a freak!

* * *

As Ami wandered around kowloon she noticed, she eventually happened upon just an arm laying on the ground. As she touched it, her arm returned to her body, looking like normal.

"Congratulations, Ami! You have an arm!" Lopmon cheered.

Ami touched her hand. She could feel again. The sensation of feeling was in her arm. _So this is how it's going to be. My body parts are just lying around. Aren't they?_ She realized.

She hoped nobody had come across them first, screaming at what looked like the remains of a body.

Ami searched the area of kowloon far and wide, finding things like an arm, a leg and a torso between blocks and thrown in every so direction.

Every time she touched an avatar piece it would return to her body and she would feel a little more human. Her mind knew she was still a mass of digital data underneath but perhaps other people would look at her as normal.

Her newfound strength and confidence seemed to go to her new digimon too. He glowed for a moment and soon the Pabumon that had been squirming behind her was now a weird pink creature with arms.

"That's better! It's nice to be able to talk a little bit more. My name's Motimon, Ami." Motimon introduced.

"Maybe you should stop talking." Lopmon hissed still bitter that she was not Ami's only partner and that Mirei had thought Ami needed more protection.

Motimon was quiet for a second. "I have a job to do, just like you do. You are Ami's physical protection, I am her mental. I need to be able to talk so I can give Ami advice. That's not something you'd be good at, right?"

Lopmon was silent for a moment. "I could be good at it if I was given a chance! I'm good at everything Ami needs me to be."

Motimon nodded, "Okay." He said patiently. "But there must be strengths that I have that can help, Ami, right? I like sleeping for example. Maybe I can help Ami with nightmares…?"

Lopmon was about to yell again but Ami located her mouth.

"It's all right." She hushed Lopmon. "I'm..I'm happy to have both your support." She didn't know either of them well, but it felt like they had been together forever. Perhaps that was the magic of a partner and a digimon.

She was happy with both of them. And as she looked at the sham of what was her body she knew she needed both of them.

"I can talk again. Maybe...Maybe Kyoko can figure out how...How to combine me with my real body now." Wherever that was.

Now...Now she needed to figure out how to get back to Kyoko. Perhaps logging out would help? If she logged out like normal would she return to her old body? Or would she just be back at the agency?

She didn't know. She'd have to find out.

* * *

The answer was she'd be back at Kyoko's office. She did not miraculously get fixed and return to her old body.

Kyoko was waiting at her desk. "This is great! My theory about getting the pieces of your avatar did help you return to something that looked somewhat normal. And I assume you can talk now?"

Ami nodded. For some reason her voice still couldn't find itself. It wasn't that she couldn't talk it was just that the stress of the entire situations didn't give her any words to say.

Kyoko frowned at Ami not talking. "But...This means you might be able to help me with the investigation as to what happened to your real body. And your ability...Connection Jump. It should be able to help us out in teleporting you to places that we don't have a permit to go into." Kyoko said cryptically.

"You..." _You want me to do something illegal?_ Ami didn't know how she felt about that. But she couldn't finish the sentence.

Before Kyoko could answer her or congratulate her for saying even a single word, there was a knock on her door.

"Yes, come in." She agreed.

"Pardon me." A gritty detective guy with a striped hat walked in. "I just wanted to stop by and see how my friend was doing."

"Detective Matoyoshi." Kyoko smiled. "Ami, this is my….friend." She seemed to be having some trouble saying the word, "He was…"

"I used to babysit, Kyoko." Matoyoshi replied. "Sure she changed into a weirdo in adulthood but she's still basically a niece to me." He laughed out loud. "Glad she became a detective like me too. I must have inspired you."

Kyoko was quiet. "I do enjoy nostalgia but unfortunately I have a case."

Ami noticed that she looked a little uncomfortable. _Are they really friends? She doesn't look happy when he talks about the past._ Something about analyzing other people helped Ami not focus on her own issues.

"Oh. A case, huh?" Matoyoshi smiled. "Odd...This girl looks too smart to need help from a detective. Oooh...Is she job shadowing you?" He teased. "She looks like the type that would love to be a detective!"

 _He must really like getting other people involved in his career._ Ami realized. With the way he talked to Kyoko crediting her career to his inspiration, he must have always liked helping people become detectives.

Ami had no time to think about her career choices though. She was still shaking from an unbelievable tragedy. Perhaps any other day she would have said she would love to be a detective. It was something she was slightly interested in after all, but not today.

"Perhaps after I help her she'll become an assistant of mine, but we haven't discussed that." Kyoko replied. "She does look quite smart."

Ami hadn't heard anything about this, the possibility of her becoming Kyoko's assistant. Was that how she was supposed to pay for this case? She thought that her existence was payment enough? _I guess people have to make money somehow. Skeevy._ She thought to herself.

She didn't know if she minded though. Nobody else would have taken her in with her body.

"Ami, this is the person who has succeeded in the most cases in the cyber crimes division. He's a very elite detective." Kyoko finally explained. She looked like she was thinking for a moment as if wondering if she should tell Matoyoshi about Ami's condition.

She eventually decided not to. "Anyway, did you come here for something? Is there a case you need me to take?" She asked. "Sit on the sofa and tell me about it, I can bring you a cup of coffee."

Matoyoshi's face went pale. "No, no coffee!" He yelled. "There's no need for that. I won't be here long, I mean." He glanced at Ami for a second. He seemed to be communicating the words 'help me'.

Ami wondered what was so deadly about coffee. She decided it was for her best interest not to ask.

"The thing I came here to tell you is simple." Matoyoshi admitted. "I...I just heard a rumor about Eden Syndrome since you were always interested in that subject I wanted to tell you about it."

Kyoko frowned for a moment and sat down, she glanced at Ami for a moment. "Do you know about the rumors of Eden syndrome?"

Ami frowned. She had never really liked Eden, and the rumors involving Eden Syndrome were part of the reason why. Perhaps she took the rumors too seriously, like Nokia took things seriously in weird articles.

 _Eden Syndrome isn't real. It has never been confirmed by Kamishiro Enterprises._ Ami reminded. But she couldn't deny the fact that people kept talking about the fact that every now and then a second cousin, or a distant relative of theirs would just disappear after logging into Eden.

"Y-yeah." Ami finally nodded. "It's...People disappearing from Eden, right?"

"Should your client be listening in to this information?" Matoyoshi asked.

Kyoko nodded. "I trust her. And she's got some very special skills when it comes to Eden. She might be helpful concerning this stuff." She referred to Ami's newfound ability 'connection jump'.

Matoyoshi nodded. "All right. If you vouch for her, I trust her." He smiled. "The rumor...The rumor is saying that the patients that have Eden Syndrome have all been taken to a special ward in the central hospital by the Kamishiro enterprises. People say they're probably looking for a cure, but I have common sense. I think they're trying to hide their mistakes and the people afflicted." Matoyoshi replied.

Kyoko nodded. "That...Makes sense. There's never been a cure for Eden syndrome after all, we're not even sure really what happens to cause the symptoms."

"...Eden syndrome is real?" Ami finally asked. _So eden was always dangerous!_ She knew she had been suspicious of it for a reason.

Matoyoshi grinned for a minute. "She doesn't know what it is, does she?"

"She probably thinks it only means people disappearing, like the rumors say." Kyoko replied.

Matoyoshi nodded. "Eden syndrome is a real condition. It's rare, but real. It's what happens when an Eden user loses consciousness and never wakes up. Their data is usually no longer in Eden as well, it's not like they're stuck inside. They're just..."

"In a coma." Kyoko replied. "It's a rare problem where Eden users become comatose."

Ami felt herself freeze. _Unable to wake up?_ She felt herself suddenly feel very lucky. She was alive. She was awake. She might not have been with her body, but she wasn't comatose.

She felt so much sympathy for these eden syndrome people. She was happy she didn't have it, but the idea scared her that there were people who were experiencing this problem.

"We don't know the cause or the treatment." Matoyoshi explained. "All details are kept very secret. And even relatives can't visit the patients that are afflicted. So it's been extremely difficult to pinpoint where the comatose patients have been taken." He looked proud. He had found out though!

"It makes sense for them to be at central hospital." Kyoko looked through her notes. "That place is owned by Kamishiro enterprises. The same Kamishiro enterprises that runs Eden."

"They shouldn't be keeping silent." Matoyoshi clenched his fist. "More and more people are getting afflicted with Eden syndrome. We need the information so we can figure out what's going on and prevent it. This is disgusting." He cursed.

Kyoko nodded in agreement. "Would you like some coffee to calm you down?" She offered.

Matoyoshi jumped up. "Uhhh...I think I have to go instead. I mean I gave you the information that I planned to give you, but I...I got more to do." He ran to the door. Before he reached it he passed Ami. "I would make sure not to drink any of that coffee if I were you. It's got a weird color and chunks of...I don't know what. Please consider this a warning."

Before Ami could ask him what he meant he was out the door. And Ami was left with Kyoko.

Kyoko looked like she was thinking. "I believe I'll head to central hospital." She revealed.

"W-what..Why?" Ami asked. It wasn't that she didn't want to focus on Eden syndrome and this important information, but she had thought Kyoko was going to help her with her body. _I...I feel so bad for those people, it's true. And a detective does need to get as much information as she can on something like this, but…_

She didn't want Kyoko to leave her. Kyoko was the only real person who knew about her condition at the moment and had offered help.

"Kamishiro must have realized that rumors have started up about the eden syndrome patients being at their hospital. They've probably started to beef up security. I need to get there before security is so good even I can't get in there." Kyoko replied.

 _That...That makes sense. Those patients don't have time to spare. I'm...I'm somewhat here._ Ami realized.

"That and you being separated from your body in Eden has to have something to do with this Eden syndrome thing. I've been thinking it over since I found you but you may have something connected to Eden syndrome. The best way we can get information on your condition is to learn as much as we can about the normal Eden syndrome." Kyoko replied.

Ami looked up. She...She might have something like Eden syndrome? _It's...It's true that...Eden was the thing I was last in when I wasn't separated from my body._ That made a lot of sense.

What if she had Eden syndrome? What would she do? _I don't know that. Maybe...Maybe my body is just…._ She didn't know where her body was. Maybe this was her body now.

"Can...I come with you?" Ami asked.

"Of course." Kyoko nodded. "I may need your help after all. If security is that secure I could really use your ability to teleport into the special ward." She smiled. "Kamishiro doesn't know I have a secret weapon, and it's you."

Ami felt herself jump. "So that's why you wanted to go. Because with me you might actually have a chance of getting the information you need."

Kyoko grinned.

* * *

Kyoko and Ami walked into the central hospital together. It looked like a normal hospital lobby, busy people and nobody exactly keeping a floor of coma patients.

"So what first?" Ami asked. "Am I using my connection jump-"

"No, I'm going to ask if we can go into the special ward first. Sometimes rumors are just that. We've gotta know if we're actually denied in first." Kyoko replied. "Would you like to help with some detective work?"

Ami nodded. She could use the distraction. "What can I do?"

"Ask questions, gather information on the special ward, please." Kyoko replied. "I really could use the help. And I wasn't joking when I said you looked smart and could work with me." She smiled almost mischievously or like she was dreaming. Ami wasn't sure which. "When your body is back to normal I would love to offer you a job."

"A j-job?" Ami liked the idea, _but when my body is back to normal. I've gotta make my body normal first._ Her condition was her first priority. "All right...I'll go ask around for information." She didn't say yes to the job offer yet.

Kyoko nodded, letting her go and walking off to the front desk.

Ami looked around at the bustling people. One person caught her eye by the elevator. It was a girl talking to a nurse. She didn't look sad….In fact she didn't look like she had any emotion on her face. She just looked like her eyes were dead in a way. Cold.

She had long smooth black hair, and was dressed in black and white. Perhaps it was her looks that attracted Ami's attention or perhaps it was the fact that she was staring right at Ami across the room.

Ami stared back but the girl didn't say anything. "Um...Have we met before?" She finally asked across the room.

 _Maybe we've met before. Something about her seems…._ Familiar? No, Ami just liked her hair. Now was not the time to check people out. She was dealing with far more serious issues.

The black haired girl continued staring at her but as Ami spoke to her she turned around, startled trying to ignore Ami.

Most people would have said that was rude. But Ami was very good at being insightful. She could tell by the way the girl shivered that she was just shy.

Ami decided not to bother her as she quickly fled into the elevator.

 _I hope she's okay._ She thought to herself. She didn't mean to scare her.

She waited for a moment so that she wouldn't accidentally run into the girl and then went over to the elevator herself so she could go up to the special ward.

She was relieved to learn the elevator was in fact empty. Once she got up to the special ward though she found a set of large doors with guards in front of them.

"No entry is permitted unless you're hospital staff." One of the guards said. "Please go back to the lobby."

"But I'm with a detect-" Ami cut herself off. She didn't know if Kyoko's identity was a secret.

She walked away from the guards. _Asking the guards if I was allowed in seems a good way to gather information. And they seem pretty menacing._ She didn't know if they were carrying weapons, she saw batons.

She sneaked out of their sight to call Kyoko.

"Their are guards stationed in front of the special ward." Ami described.

"As I thought. You can ride the elevator at the moment to the special ward but can't enter." Kyoko told her. "Luckily I have two different plans, it's up to you which one we use."

"Up to me?" Ami asked. That was a lot of responsibility.

"Yes, we could take out the guards and fight them. Meaning I would fight them because I'm not sure what condition you're in, and it would be considered a break in and I would possibly get arrested, or you use your connection jump ability to teleport into the special ward. I'm sure they have some electronic device in their after all. And it would bypass security." Kyoko explained.

Ami frowned. "That...Doesn't sound like much of a choice. It sounds like you're asking me to break into the special ward or be responsible for you getting arrested."

"A good detective knows how to avoid arrest, so it's only a 10% chance I get arrested." Kyoko replied. "I like fighting." She added quietly.

Ami frowned. It really did sound like Kyoko wanted her to break in. After all who wanted to fight two armed guards? "I'll...I'll use the connection jump ability. I don't know how it's useful. Or really how to use it, but I'll try."

Kyoko smiled. "I knew I could count on you! See, working with me as a detective is fun!"

Ami frowned. She hadn't really agreed to the job offer yet. She turned off the voice call and looked around.

She eventually found an unguarded terminal that was being wheeled around. It was probably some sort of nurse's device. _Perhaps it's connected to the hospital network._ She hoped.

She worriedly placed her hand towards it, hoping that just magically her ability would be jump started. And as soon as she did her body was sucked into the terminal and she disappeared as if she had never been there.

She had a special ward to break into.

* * *

After traveling through the digital roads, Ami eventually managed to find an exit that looked like it was connected to a machine in the special ward.

She exited and suddenly her body was in a closed off hospital area. Glass doors and windows separated her in the hallway from various patients hooked up to machines- obviously comatose.

"What now?" She asked Kyoko on her phone.

"Keep an eye on the patients, see if there's anyone that you recognize from the news or something." Kyoko instructed. "Go to the back rooms to see if there's any sheets or details on the syndrome. And then steal them."

"...That's a c-crime.." Ami's voice shook. First she lost her body, then she broke into a hospital and now she was a thief? What was with Kyoko.

"Hiding away comatose people from the media is a crime too." Kyoko replied. "Two wrongs make a right. And anyway we need this information."

Ami nodded. Kyoko was right. This information was important. "Okay...I'll try not to be noticed."

She turned off the call and walked along the halls towards the back room. As she walked, something gained her attention in the corner of her eyes. It was pink hair.

She turned her head to one of the patients she had passed, separated from her by the glass windows. She saw a breathing mask on a pink haired girl's face along with several IV tubes along her arms.

She felt her heart beat faster when she saw the face. _T-that's...That's me._ She realized. That was her body. Her real body. Comatose.

She wanted to let the fake body she was wearing, this digital body, crumble to the ground.

 _I...I have Eden syndrome._ She realized. _I'm one of the coma patients. I...I must have been taken earlier today when I experienced a log out error._ She felt true terror.

Did her family know? Did her friends? Had Nokia and Arata heard what had happened to her? Was she on the news? Or did she just get shoved under the carpet, metaphorically speaking, to help Kamishiro's reputation?

Did nobody know what had happened to her? And...Would her real body ever wake up again?

She wanted to cry out. She wanted to cry, for herself and the pain her body felt like it was in, and the other patients that didn't even get a digital body like hers it seemed. She put her hands against the glass but covered her mouth so she wouldn't cry.

She couldn't afford being found out. She couldn't afford getting pulled out of the special ward now. _Kyoko was right. I….I do have something like Eden syndrome. This...This is where my body is._

Ami could hear words being sent through her digivice from her digimon to console her, but she couldn't hear them. All she could see was her frozen comatose body and the feeling that she wasn't real.

She let herself cry out into her hand once, as she looked at her body, but then she willed her digital legs to move. _I've gotta find the data on eden syndrome now. For me...And for everyone else afflicted._

Perhaps this was why she was digital. Maybe someone out there wanted someone to have Eden syndrome that could speak and uncover the mysteries involved in it. Maybe she was like this for a reason. Maybe Mirei was right that she had a purpose.

She couldn't let herself be stopped by the trauma. She had to keep moving.

* * *

Ami eventually made it to the back room that had several computers and papers. She found some files on Eden syndrome eventually.

All the stuff in the files seemed to be things Kyoko already knew. That Eden syndrome happened while people were logged into Eden and caused people to go into comas, that there was no known treatment or cure as of yet.

 _Nothing useful. Even Kamishiro doesn't know much about Eden syndrome._ Ami sighed, walking out of the back room in despair and looking at the ground.

 _I have eden syndrome._ She just kept repeating in her head. She didn't...Didn't feel anything. Not emotionally or physically.

"Why are you here?" Ami heard a voice and looked up. She had been discovered! In front of her covering her mouth was the black haired girl that Ami had seen in the lobby. "This area is off limits!"

"W-why...Why are you here?" Ami tried to do a slick comeback, but it wasn't very smart. _Only hospital staff are allowed in here. And that girl doesn't look like hospital staff. Is she an employee of Kamishiro enterprises?_ She wondered.

The girl looked about her age, but perhaps Kamishiro employed young geniuses.

"Don't answer a question with a question!" The girl yelled annoyed, "Did you break in?"

"Umm...Uhh..." Ami didn't know what to say. "I'm...Helping a detective." She finally replied, unable to lie. "That...shouldn't be wrong, right? People deserve to know about eden syndrome!" Ami couldn't help but feel like her voice cracked when she said the words 'eden syndrome.'

The girl looked confused for a moment but then relaxed. "Ah. You're helping Kuremi, aren't you?" She seemed to know Kyoko. "That's all right then. And..." She paused. "You sound really sad about eden syndrome, don't you?" She realized. "Ah...A relative must have been affected." She nodded. "You're right. You deserve to know about the disease."

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can answer some of your questions if you want. I...I understand people being hurt by the illness. But I don't want you to think Kamishiro is some evil enterprise that's keeping secrets for their sake. So I'll answer your questions directly."

"But...Kamishiro enterprises is keeping secrets for their sake-" Ami tried to reply.

The girl shook her head. "There'd be mass panic if word got out about Eden syndrome. Eden would be shut down. And although that might not be important to you, a lot of people use Eden for everyday stuff. They're too sick to leave the house, or they use it to do normal everyday activities due to disabilities." The girl explained. "Eden brings happiness and is important to a lot of people. It's their life. So...I don't want to see it be destroyed."

"But...People are going into comas..." Ami tried to tell her not understanding why that wasn't important.

"Only a few. And we're not sure why still. It can be stopped, I'm sure." The girl responded.

"You...Must really like Kamishiro enterprises if you're willing to argue with a stranger who broke into a hospital so that the stranger likes them a little better." Ami realized.

The girl bit her lip. "I'm in debt to them. And I do think you're right that people deserve information on Eden syndrome. At least if a relative has been affected. That's...You, right?" She suggested.

Ami didn't answer. _She's insightful. She can see this is important to me. Of course the logical conclusion would be that a relative of mine is affected._ "Is there a cure for Eden syndrome?" She finally asked.

The girl actually looked sad now. "I've...Never heard of someone recovering, I'm sorry."

 _Someone close to her is affected too, huh?_ Ami realized. That must be what the strange girl meant by being in debt to Kamishiro. Her relative must have been on life support. _The poor girl. We're kinda in the same situation, aren't we? Our lives both depend on this hospital._

"I think that there will be a cure though!" The girl spoke up. It was the loudest Ami had ever heard her voice. "Someone...Someone I know has been stuck in a deep sleep for eight years...But I'm sure he'll wake up! I know he will!" She tried to smile. She couldn't.

Ami walked up closer to her. She wasn't afraid of scaring her anymore. She just felt bad. "I'm sorry." She apologized. That was all she could say. She didn't know if that someone would wake up.

The girl looked like she might flee again when Ami walked closer, but she looked up at her face instead, meeting her eyes. Ami could see now how sad they looked. "You understand, don't you? That hope is the only thing we have left."

Ami wondered if the girl had ever spoken to anyone before about her own trauma. "I...I didn't know we even had hope." She nodded. "But...You're right."

The girl smiled a little, happy she could give someone hope. "Do...You have any other questions?"

"...Do...Do you know what happened to that patient?" Ami finally pointed over to one of the beds through the glass window.

The girl looked over at Ami's comatose body. "That patient was brought in a short while ago, I don't know how she contracted it. I don't know how anyone contracts it." Her eyes widened. "Oh! She looks just like you!"

"That's because..." Ami felt for some reason she could trust this girl. It was that unexplained feeling of trust. _I think it's because deep down I know she just wants the eden syndrome patients to be cured. She's waiting for someone else to wake up too. Isn't she?_

"She's your twin, isn't she!" The girl clapped her hands proud at how smart she was. "Oh no. I'm so sorry. Losing a sibling….Losing a twin of all things to the syndrome. I know I heard the mother of that patient was contacted but….Did you get the information? No...probably not." The girl looked really apologetic.

"She's not my..." Ami tried to speak up.

"Hmm...Perhaps I could get a special pass for you to visit her with my connections? No...I don't think Rie would be happy with that..." The girl was mumbling to herself quietly. She obviously wasn't used to talking.

Ami smiled. She felt it was one of the first time she had smiled since she had been afflicted by eden syndrome. The girl just really wanted to help. _She's sweet._ She decided. "She's not my twin." She replied.

"Really!?" The girl covered her mouth surprised. "But you two look so much alike. That's a weird coincidence."

"That's my body." Ami finally said. "I don't know what happened but I'm afflicted with Eden syndrome."

The girl stared at her for a second. Then another second as if she didn't believe her. Her mouth then dropped open. "You...But...You're here. How? Someone's awake...But...Wait...Your body's right there..."

She didn't seem to be able to process this, her words were a fumbley mess.

Ami decided to ask her another question as she tried to process this mess. "Is Kamishiro connected to Eden syndrome?"

The girl managed to get a grip on her tongue. "That's a mistake!" She defended. "Kamishiro just wants peace and quiet to find a cure for Eden syndrome. They did not afflict this." The girl shook her head.

She looked at Ami for another second, "You...You really have Eden syndrome? And you're like...A patient that somehow got separated from their real body?"

"I don't think I offer any clues to curing it though." Ami admitted. "I don't really know what happened and how I became different than the other patients."

The girl nodded slowly. "It...It probably wouldn't be a very good idea to tell the hospital staff anyway. They'd likely lock you up or try to find out what happened through experiments." She said quietly mostly to herself.

Ami's eyes widened. _And this girl is still helping them?_ It didn't sound like the girl was happy about that. But it also didn't sound like that they had ever done that, it was just a possibility.

"My...My brother came down with Eden Syndrome." She finally replied. "It's...It's a miracle to me to see you. Someone walking around even if they don't have their body. But...I'm so sorry. It must be terrifying." The girl said she looked like even though she wanted to argue about Kamishiro she was too focused on Ami's condition.

"It...It is..." Ami admitted.

"Even though I don't think it's a good idea for you to alert the hospital staff could...Could we trade contact information?" The girl asked. "I...I want to ask you questions. For my brother."

Ami nodded, but before she could take out her phone the two of them heard footsteps.

"Hello! Thank you for working hard. Aww you look so cute when you're tired." A woman's voice was on the other side of the locked doors, flirting with some guards.

The girl in front of Ami's eyes widened. "Rie! I wasn't expecting her today." She realized. "Come on, we have to hide you. She's exactly the sort of person you don't want to be found by." There seemed to be determination in the almost dead girl's eyes now.

She took Ami by the hand to lead her away. Ami grasped the girl's hand as she led her.

 _Maybe it's the fact that we know the same pain. But...I can feel this girl's hand._ It felt nice to hold her hand. She trusted it and let the girl lead her away.

The girl eventually stuffed her in the back room, and stood in front of the big doors so that Rie wouldn't find her.

The woman, Rie, wore an orange dress and had light green hair with flowers in it. There was something mean about her expression though. It was easy to infer that she was probably a Kamishiro executive.

"Oh! Yuuko! Are you well?" Rie asked giggling and approaching the black haired girl.

 _Her name is Yuuko._ Ami realized, trying to listen in a little. Yuuko thought she was just hiding but Ami knew she could easily flee the scene through the computer.

"Miss Rie, I thought you wouldn't be coming today. Your name isn't on the approved visitor list." Yuuko replied coldly and calmly.

Rie laughed out loud. "I'm not! I just wanted to see my small...darling...Yuuko."

"I don't need you to check up on me." Yuuko replied. "I'm okay being by my lonesome." It sounded like Yuuko didn't like or trust Rie, or want her company.

"I wasn't worried about you being alone." Rie smiled. "My Yuuko senses were just tingling. Maybe I thought you were being all gloomy and crying over your brother's corpse again."

"He's comatose. It's not a corpse." Yuuko corrected sternly.

"Aww...It's sweet seeing you act all hopeful and strong. It's cute." Rie mocked.

It hurt listening to this. _I can't do anything though. That poor girl, Yuuko...Her pain is being exploited by that Kamishiro executive...Isn't it?_ Ami realized.

She had to stay hidden though. It wasn't like she could go in and yell stop. That wouldn't do any good. She'd likely be arrested and if that woman wanted to hurt her...Well it was very easy to pull her plug. She wasn't sure if the woman would stoop to something so illegal but with the way she spoke, it might be likely. Especially if Ami could talk about Kamishiro's secret stash of coma patients.

"By the way what have you been doing here?" Rie asked. "I usually find you in your brother's room. Not in the hallways." She sounded like she was suspicious of her.

"I wasn't doing anything in particular." Yuuko shook her head, very bad at lying.

"Were you having a picnic?" Rie teased.

"Yes, I mean no..No it's nothing like that!" Yuuko quickly tried to hide.

"Wait...Wait a minute." Rie smiled, "Is there something you're trying to hide?" She paused, giggling to herself. "Or someone, perhaps? ...Did you bring a boyfriend here?"

"No." Yuuko frowned.

"Oh! You're right you've never been that into the idea of boyfriends." Rie paused. "It must be a girlfriend! Ooh little Yuuko has a girlfriend!" She laughed, "I better have a look around." She teased.

"No!" Yuuko tried to yell quickly, putting out her arms to stop Rie from going into the back room.

"Were you doing something scandalous? You're pretty naughty, Yuuko." Rie mocked again, and pushed Yuuko aside onto the floor.

"Wait! Please don't go in there!" Yuuko begged.

Rie smiled and opened the doors. But by that point Ami had used connection jump to already be gone.

As Rie poked around looking for what Yuuko desperately was trying to keep hidden she frowned. "Darn. You're a better actor than I thought. Pretending you had some big secret when there was nothing."

Yuuko looked confused. _Where did she…?_ The mysterious pink haired girl afflicted with Eden syndrome was gone.

She was both relieved and confused. "Yes. It was just a prank, Miss Rie. I've done nothing wrong. So please...Don't take it out on my brother."

Rie nodded unhappy that Yuuko wasn't doing anything wrong. "Still it's too bad you didn't have a girlfriend here. I thought little Yuuko was finally growing up. I'm sure I had 27 boyfriends when I was your age."

"Miss Rie...I don't think you can have 27 boyfriends." Yuuko corrected.

Rie frowned. "Boo." she pouted.

* * *

Once Ami reunited with Kyoko in the hospital lobby, Kyoko brought her back to her office so they could talk in private.

Ami told Kyoko what she had learned about Eden syndrome, neglecting to mention the Yuuko parts because that didn't seem important.

"That must have been quite shocking and horrible, seeing your own body in a coma. I...I guess it's kinda like the theory of astral projection. If you think about it that way it's not so scary?" Kyoko tried to suggest.

"It's still scary. Any moment my real body could die. And what happens if my form just disappears? I could be in a coma at any moment. And...I don't know if I can eat or breathe or be anything normal!" Ami cried.

Kyoko watched her panic, resting her heads on her hands. "I am...I am sorry." She finally said, struggling to find words. "If..If I..."

"If you what?" Ami tried to gurgle out through her tears.

"If I had investigated Eden syndrome sooner perhaps this wouldn't have happened." Kyoko replied. "There's...Some good in this situation though, Ami."

"That I'm something unique?" Ami asked trying to focus but being largely unable to.

"Yes. You're the first Eden syndrome patient to exhibit these symptoms. An irregularity. And since you remember the moment before you logged out you might have some clues as to how Eden syndrome is brought about." Kyoko explained.

Ami was still crying, and holding herself trying to shake the image of herself in a coma out of her mind. She couldn't even throw up from the nausea of that image.

"You need to stay calm, Ami. I promise we'll get to the bottom of this eventually. But you've got to remember, you're here. Even if you're here in a unique way of being digital." Kyoko walked over to Ami and stroked her hair, like a mother might.

 _That's right._ Ami thought. _I'm here. My digimon...Are digital too. They're supposedly programs. But they have feelings. And lopmon...Lopmon's struggling too._ Ami tried to swallow and calm down. Focus on breathing, or imitating breathing. "All...All right. I'm calm...What next?"

"Well...We could focus on trying to uncover the truth of eden syndrome and getting you back to your original body, but I imagine it would be an incredibly slow and long process. This is a huge case, after all." Kyoko told her.

"I...I want to do that though. I want to figure out what's going on with Eden syndrome." Ami replied.

"We have no clues to go off of though." Kyoko admitted. "But I'm sure we might get some in my cases. I work a lot with Eden and cyber crimes as a cyber detective." Kyoko told her.

"Then...We wait?" Ami asked. "Do I...I just go home then?"

"I doubt you can. They've probably locked away your apartment, right, since they think you will likely be in a coma forever." Kyoko explained.

 _All my stuff!_ Ami wanted to cry out. She probably couldn't get her stuff back, or retrieve it then. Was her apartment sold and her stuff thrown out? Or just locked away.

"Do you think they alerted your mother and Guardian?" Kyoko asked. "I'm sure that would cause quite a bit of panic if they said their daughter was in the hospital. But perhaps you could stay with one of them if they didn't tell them yet."

"Umm...I only have a mother." Ami piped up her correction. "My Dad...I've never really had one. My Mom's a single Mom."

Kyoko looked at her confused for a moment. "But you have another guardian, don't you? Your records that I got a hold of lists that your mother often travels and works over seas. So….You of course have someone else watching over you, correct?" Kyoko looked clearly concerned.

Ami looked sheepish for a moment. "My mom got me an apartment" She said simply like that made it all better, "And it's fine. My Mom's always been career focused, we keep in touch though."

"But what about when you were younger. You had to have someone else watching over you. I mean your official records lists you having two guardians. Your mother and what I would assume was a second one." Kyoko frowned.

"I think that's just my mom's friend of the month." Ami tried to smile and not sound weird about it. She liked her relationship with her mom. Others just found it weird that she stayed on her own so young. "I think Mom like...Legally married a best friend or something so I could have someone else around? That's probably the other guardian. But when I was around 12 she said that guy booked it." Ami frowned. "That's probably the other guardian you're thinking of."

Kyoko nodded as if that made sense. "The other name has been redacted so you're probably right." She thought for a moment. "Your mom probably can't help since she's in another country then." She sighed for a moment thinking.

"I could...Get a part time job or rest at a friend's house-" Ami suggested.

"How about you live with me for the time being? That way I can directly help you with your case." Kyoko suggested.

Ami frowned. "For...Free?" That didn't sound right. She barely knew Kyoko.

Kyoko thought for a moment. "If you're willing to work off rent I could have you work as my assistant. I'm sure we could find out what's going on with Eden syndrome quicker with your abilities."

Ami's eyes brightened. That sounded good. _I'll be able to know exactly what goes on here and I won't feel guilty about staying with Kyoko._ "All right. I can be your assistant."

Kyoko smiled. "We might get some cases that don't have anything to do with eden syndrome but hopefully even they will give clues to your condition." She stood up and offered her hand. "I'll be happy to have you as my partner."

Ami smiled. The gleeful look that Kyoko had when she said partner confused her though. _It sounds...Familiar._ Perhaps she was just relating it to lopmon.

Being a detective's partner and a digimon's partner were two different things.

 _I guess...In the end I became a cyber sleuth._

She would find a cure for Eden Syndrome. She would.

 _All we have left is our hope._ Ami remembered what Yuuko had said. She hoped she could remain hopeful.

* * *

 **One of the things I really want to focus on in this fic is reactions to medical trauma or illness, which Ami experiences a lot of in the actual cyber sleuth game but never really talks about? It's a big deal. I hope to focus on it more.**

 **Anyway chapters will alternate in a weird way between Ami and Keisuke since Cyber sleuth divides its content with prologue plus 20 chapters, and Keisuke's story only has 18 chapters. So there will be a few chapters where Ami just has two chapters in a row.**

 **Next chapter I'll introduce Keisuke though.**


End file.
